Forever
by Rae325
Summary: "What do you think about adopting Mason?" Cooper, Charlotte, and Mason build their family.
1. Chapter 1

_Author's Note__: Like the description says, this is a story about Charlotte, Cooper, and Mason building a family. It will follow them along the process of Charlotte adopting Mason. If you aren't a fan of reading stories that focus heavily on Mason's relationship with his parents, I suggest you skip this one. I am always very happy to get positive or negative feedback, as long as it is constructive._

* * *

Cooper brings up adoption for the first time after he watches his patient be dragged away from his stepfather and put into foster care.

Cooper comes home late that evening after hours of struggling with DCFS to find Mason already asleep and Charlotte curled up in bed with a book. Cooper kicks off his shoes and crawls into bed with Charlotte, who puts her book down and motions for Cooper to snuggle up against her. Cooper lays his head on Charlotte's shoulder, and she wraps her arms around him. "I'm sorry Coop," she whispers before leaning down to kiss him. She had received a series of increasingly upset texts from her husband as the night progressed.

Cooper is quiet for a few minutes, and Charlotte assumes that he doesn't want to talk about his patient. She rubs soothing patterns on his back and holds him tightly, until Cooper finally breaks the silence. "Char?"

"Hmm?"

"Can I ask you something?" Cooper says, and Charlotte is a little uneasy about a question that requires a preface.

" 'Course," she replies.

Cooper props himself up on his elbow so that he's looking at Charlotte. "What do you think about adopting Mason?" he asks.

It catches Charlotte completely off guard. Later she won't be sure why it surprises her so much or why she hadn't thought about it before. Charlotte is a woman who is always prepared and does things by the book, so she should have thought more about the legal issues of being Mason's momma. But she guesses she had been a little too occupied by thinking about the real ways that she's become his momma.

Charlotte sits there with her mouth agape a second too long because Cooper starts talking again. "If something happens to me, I want to make sure that Mason stays with you."

"Of course," Charlotte says, shaking off the surprise. "Of course I want to adopt him." The words feel a little odd rolling off her tongue, and Charlotte stops talking for a minute to take it in. She can't help the smile that spreads across her face.

Mason's her son. She's told Erica and Cooper this on numerous occasions, but still there's something about making it legal that feels different. It's a feeling not unlike the one she had about marrying Cooper. They had been committed, in the relationship forever. She knew that before they had said their vows, but still there was something different about making it official.

"You're right Coop," Charlotte says sitting up and turning to her husband. "If God forbid anything happens to you, we need to make sure that Mason stays with me. I should have thought about it sooner."

Cooper smiles at Charlotte, sitting up and leaning against the headboard next to her. "It's been a crazy few months, I think we can let ourselves off the hook on this one."

Cooper wraps his arm around Charlotte's shoulder, and they take a minute to breathe and let this settle over them. It's both not a change at all and also something huge. This doesn't change how much Charlotte loves Mason. The kid already calls her _Momma_, so he probably doesn't need the symbolic gesture. But still this feels bigger than simply a way to make sure that there isn't any trouble with Charlotte making medical decisions or signing permission slips.

"We should call our lawyer tomorrow and get this started," Charlotte says. Cooper has a silly grin on his face that Charlotte can't quite figure out. "What?" she asks.

Cooper shrugs. "You're a mom," he tells her grinning. "Looks good on you."

"I guess you won the argument about kids after all," Charlotte comments, as she tilts her head to lean against Cooper's shoulder.

"I did, and you seem pretty happy about it."

"Mmhmm," Charlotte mutters against Cooper's neck.

"I told you you'd be great," Cooper says giving Charlotte's arm a playful little squeeze. He doesn't want to think about the month he'd spent insisting that Charlotte wasn't Mason's mother; that he knew better than she did because he was really Mason's parent. Cooper had apologized, and Charlotte hadn't brought it up again. But he still feels a little guilty.

"You think that Mason'll be ok with this, right?" Charlotte asks.

Cooper looks at his wife; her brow is crinkled with concern. "Of course. He adores you. You're his momma."

"I think it'll be ok," Charlotte agrees, "as long as we make it really clear that I'm not trying to replace Erica."

"He's never thought that. You talk about her all the time," Cooper reminds Charlotte. She weaves their fingers together and nods. "I think Mason's going to be thrilled. I'm thrilled. Not about the legal stuff. Well sure, about the legal stuff too. I'm thrilled that we're parents."

Charlotte loves hearing him say that. She didn't give him his son, but nonetheless, Charlotte and Cooper became parents together. And they're going to be parenting their son together for the rest of their lives. "Me too. You really were right about this one."

"Of course I was. I'm always right," Cooper tells Charlotte, who makes a noise somewhere between a laugh and a snort. He may not be right about everything, but Charlotte is damn glad he was right about how great it would be to have a kid.


	2. Chapter 2

Charlotte gets to the practice at 10 o'clock the next day after a busy morning at St. Ambrose. Most of her colleagues are in the kitchen chatting, and Charlotte wonders, not for the first time, how they seem to always have so much free time. She supposes it helps that, unlike Charlotte, they don't have two jobs.

Truth be told, Charlotte's been thinking about her jobs a lot lately. She loves them both, but now that she has a family it's getting harder and harder to make herself get to the office early or stay late. Charlotte had always sworn that she wouldn't sacrifice her career for a family. _Men didn't have to, so why should she? _But the thought of leaving her chief of staff position has been creeping in more and more recently. She's not there yet, but she thinks, a few more late night emergencies that get her home after Mason's asleep, and she might start a conversation with Cooper about cutting back to one job.

The crazy thing is that it doesn't feel like a sacrifice. Yes, she'll miss the job. And yes, she worked her ass off for this. And yes, she hates the idea that someone will think that because she's a woman, Charlotte has gone soft and left her job now that she has a family. She especially hates that last one.

But the truth is that instead of feeling like she would be sacrificing her career, Charlotte feels like she would be giving herself a gift of more time with her husband and her son. She still needs more time to mull this over, but she wants to give herself that present more and more everyday.

"Good morning," Charlotte says as she walks into the kitchen. She pulls out her mug, more than ready for coffee number two for the day.

"Congratulations!" Addison says, unable to keep her excitement to herself. Charlotte can't think of why she's being congratulated this morning. She hasn't published anything recently. She's pretty sure she hasn't won any sort of award.

Amelia promptly leaves the room. Sheldon turns to follow her out, but stops first to tell Charlotte, "Congratulations. Really, it's wonderful, Charlotte."

Charlotte is left standing with Addison and Jake, and feeling thoroughly confused about how she managed to clear a room so quickly and why everyone is congratulating her.

Jake spots Charlotte's confused expression, and with a chuckle tells her, "We heard that you're adopting Mason."

Charlotte scowls. _How the hell did she manage to marry the biggest gossip in this whole office?_ "Cooper's been running his mouth already?" she asks incredulously.

"He told Violet," Jake informs Charlotte. "We were just all in the room when he did it."

Charlotte pours herself that cup of coffee and sits down at the island in the middle of the kitchen. "You must be so excited," Addison remarks, sitting down next to Charlotte.

Charlotte and Addison had taken extremely different paths to motherhood this past year, but they both felt a sense of unity in realizing how love was more than enough to turn you into a mother, to change your whole life and make you into a different person.

"I am," Charlotte confirms with a smile. She feels silly for being this excited and nervous. _It's paperwork, _Charlotte tries to remind herself, but she's not buying it.

"My adoption was finalized last month, and I didn't think it would matter to me after having Henry for so long. But it did. It was just…thrilling."

"Congratulations," Charlotte tells her friend. "I didn't realize. It must be nice to feel like it's all finally settled."

"God, yes!" Addison says. Signing those papers had felt like the end of years of heartbreak and stress, but had it ever been worth it. Addison knew she was meant to be Henry's mom, and the years of waiting had brought her to the baby that was meant to be hers all along.

"Is Mason excited?" Jake asks. "I remember how excited Angela was when we told her I was going to adopt her."

"I didn't know you'd adopted her," Charlotte remarks. Something she respects about Jake is that he is not one to go blabbing his personal business around the office.

"It was a long struggle; her father contested it. But I finally did. It was important for her to know that I planned to stick around, since her father didn't and Lily…couldn't." There's sadness in his voice, and Addison reaches over and takes Jake's hand.

"She seems like a really good kid," Charlotte tells Jake. She had met Angela once when she had stopped by the office.

"She is. She's had it rough, but she turned out ok," Jake confirms.

"More than ok, I'd say," Addison adds. She's gotten to know Angela a bit since she's been dating Jake, and she really enjoys the sassy teenager.

Charlotte finishes her coffee and thinks about the sense of community she feels with these people. They're all parents. But it's more than that. They all understand the crazy ways that children come into your lives, appreciate the way you give yourself over to being a parent.

Even if Mason doesn't come from a background that would make him think that Charlotte would ever abandon him, maybe it's still important to make it official. Maybe her son needs her to commit herself to being his momma forever like this.

Charlotte keeps thinking about the ways that adoption means a lot more than that Charlotte will be Mason's guardian if something happens to Cooper or that she will be able to make his medical decisions, as she waits for Cooper to finish with a patient. She's pulled from her musings when her husband's office door opens and his patient and her mother step out of the room.

Charlotte walks in, closes the door behind her, and does her best to plaster a scowl on her face. "You told everyone!"

Cooper looks a little bit guilty. "I'm excited."

There's something about Cooper's look when he gets caught – the look that reminds her of a child who got caught with his hand in the cookie jar – that always makes Charlotte soften. The frown disappears of its own volition, and Charlotte is smiling softly at Cooper.

"It's not like this is going to change anything," Charlotte reminds her husband, "I was always going to be his momma forever."

"I know. This just feels different," Cooper tells Charlotte with a shrug. Maybe it's because he's adopted, and he's come to think of an adoptive parent as exactly the same as a biological one. This makes it official that he and Charlotte are both Mason's parents. He likes official.

"It does," Charlotte admits as she sits down on the couch. Cooper joins her, wrapping an arm around his wife's shoulders.

Charlotte's about to say something that makes her feel silly and superstitious, but Cooper's her husband, and he probably won't laugh at her _too much_. "You don't think we're jinxing this by telling everyone?" she asks.

"You think the state of California is going to decide that you're unfit to be a mother?" Cooper asks with a grin, because it's such a silly notion. It's an uncontested stepparent adoption, and honestly, he hasn't even considered the idea that they would have any legal problems. But Charlotte's frown makes Cooper realize that his wife is a little concerned about all the legal stuff not going right. "Don't worry about it," he tells her, pressing his lips to hers for a kiss.

But Charlotte's a bit too anxious to completely enjoy the kiss. She pulls away after a moment and tells Cooper, "We haven't even talked to Mason yet."

"You're crazy if you think he's going to be anything other than happy." Charlotte smiles at her husband, hopes he's right. "We'll tell him tonight. You'll see. And then I can go back to telling everyone without you nagging me about it."

Charlotte gives Cooper's arm a playful smack. "Fine," she tells him. Charlotte knows it would be a lost cause to try to keep her husband quiet. "Do you know how much I love you?" Charlotte asks.

"I might have some idea," Cooper confirms. His tone gets serious as he tells Charlotte, "I love you so much for doing this. I mean I love you for a whole lot of reasons. But the fact that you let yourself be Mason's momma makes me love you even more." Charlotte smiles at her husband and leans back against his shoulder.

Cooper kisses Charlotte's hair then asks, "You know what we haven't done in a while?"

"Hmm?" Charlotte asks, her eyes closed, Cooper's heartbeat lulling her towards sleep despite her recent coffee consumption.

"Had a proper date night. Mason's going to a sleepover this weekend. I was thinking that we should get all dressed up and go somewhere fancy."

"Or we could spend the whole night naked," Charlotte suggests.

Cooper laughs. He has to admit, it's nice that his wife is easy to please. She doesn't say no to jewelry or presents or a special night out, but she certainly is more than satisfied by a good lay. "How about you get all dressed up, I take you out, and then I promise to take you home and rip your dress right off of you."

"Deal," Charlotte tells him. "You think I could get a preview of that last part?"

Cooper raises an eyebrow, gives his wife his best naughty smirk, and does exactly as she asked.


	3. Chapter 3

Charlotte had managed to sneak out of the office with Cooper at 4:30 after seeing her last patient and before anyone could notice and ask her to attend to something at the hospital. When Charlotte and Cooper had picked Mason up at school, he was so excited about getting the role of the Mad Hatter in his class' production of _Alice in Wonderland_ that he chattered through the whole car ride and most of dinner about how cool the play was going to be.

It isn't until Mason is settled between Charlotte and Cooper on the couch with a bowl of ice cream in hand that Charlotte manages to start the conversation about adoption. "Can we talk to you about something, Mase?" she asks.

"Sure," Mason replies, digging his spoon into the sticky mess of caramel and marshmallow sauce.

Charlotte takes a breath. No matter how many times she has rehearsed this conversation in her mind, it always sounds so awkward to her. "How would you feel about me adopting you?"

"Really?" Mason asks, and a smile spreads across his face.

"Really," Charlotte confirms.

"Cool!" Mason says, and Charlotte feels the knot of anxiety in her stomach start to uncoil.

Charlotte wants to explain this all a bit more to Mason, even though he understands somewhat more about adoption than most kids his age since he knows Cooper was adopted. "You know that I already love you exactly the same as if you were my biological son, right babe?"

"Yeah. Me too."

Tears flood Charlotte's eyes, and she presses her lips together to keep herself from crying. She swallows, steadies herself, and continues. "Well, adoption would make what we already feel official. It would mean that legally, I would be your parent, just the same as your daddy is."

"And my mom."

Charlotte gives a little nod and asks, "How do you feel about that?"

"Having two mothers is better than one, right?" he says with a smile.

Charlotte has a twinge of concern that Mason is trying to make light of something that is a real issue for him. "You know that I'm never going to try to replace your mom, right?" Mason nods, looks more serious. "And you can tell me if this makes you uncomfortable. You're not going to hurt my feelings."

"It doesn't," Mason tells her, "Promise."

Charlotte smiles at Mason – still worried – and runs a hand through his hair. Mason puts his ice cream down and slides over on the couch so that he can lean against Charlotte. She feels the silence settle heavily, worries that Mason isn't as ok with this as she and Cooper had hoped. She's thinking the worst – that this is a bad idea, that it's going to hurt her relationship with Mason, that it's going to make him miss Erica more – when she catches Mason's growing grin out of the corner of her eye. "What are you smiling about?" she asks playfully.

"You're going to be my momma forever, no matter what."

He sounds really, truly happy about it, which thrills Charlotte to no end. "I sure am."

And then Mason's face gets serious once again, and he asks, "Even if something happens to dad, I'll be able to stay with you?"

Charlotte and Cooper had wanted to avoid getting into this with Mason; he didn't need to think about losing another parent. But they should have realized that he would be worried about it, would think about the possibility of something happening to his dad after watching his mom die. "Yes," Charlotte confirms. In a way this makes the conversation easier, because she can talk more honestly about why exactly she wants to adopt Mason. "I am always going to be your momma. Not because I'm married to your daddy, but because I love you. I always will, and I am always going to take care of you. Adopting you will make it easier for me to do that."

Mason wraps his arms around Charlotte in a tight hug. Charlotte looks over at Cooper for the first time and sees him wiping tears from his eyes. He can't get over the scene in front of him. For something he had brought up for the purpose of legal rights, this has come to feel a lot bigger than that very quickly. He mouths _I love you_ to Charlotte. She flashes him a smile and whispers, _me too_.

Mason pulls out of the hug, looks at Charlotte, and tells her "I'm really, really glad that you're my momma."

"Me too, kiddo. Me too," Charlotte says giving Mason's arm a little squeeze and squishing him against her side.

"Hey!" Mason says, feigning annoyance before settling himself against Charlotte's chest.

"Your daddy and I are going to start doing the paperwork for the adoption tomorrow, and then we'll send that to the court," Charlotte explains. "It might take a little while for someone to look at it because the courts are busy, but once they look through everything, a social worker will come to our house."

"Why?" Mason interrupts.

"Just to make sure that everything is ok, that you're happy being here. It's nothing to worry about." Mason nods. "And then when everything is finished, we'll all go and meet with a judge to sign forms and make this official."

"How long will it take?" Mason asks.

"Probably a few months. It just depends on how quickly the courts are moving," Charlotte tells Mason, running her fingers through his hair as she talks. She takes a minute to take stock of the conversation. She's pretty sure it went ok. Mason seems to want this. She wants this – more than she could have imagined. She thinks she conveyed that to her son. "Do you have any questions, honey?" Charlotte asks.

"Not really."

"Ok. You can ask me or your dad anytime if you do." And then she feels like she needs to ask him directly: "Mase, is this what you want? Me adopting you?"

"Of course! You're already my momma," Mason says, looking at Charlotte like this should be obvious.

"Just wanted to check," Charlotte says, smiling at the expression on her son's face. Charlotte presses a kiss to Mason's hair.

They stay in the moment for a while, Mason cuddled against his momma. Cooper just watches the two of them, enthralled by the scene in front of him. Mason eventually breaks the silence and asks, "What movie are we going to watch?"

"Why don't you pick something out? I'm going to make some tea," Charlotte tells him, "Want me to get you more ice cream? Yours turned into soup."

"Yes, please," Mason says, as he gets up to begin the search for the right DVD.

Charlotte is filling up the teapot when Cooper comes up behind her and wraps her in a bear hug. Charlotte turns around in his arms so that they're face to face. Cooper can't imagine loving his wife more than he does right now. They stand there for a moment, smiling at each other, taking in what just happened. They've created a family together.

Mason's voice travels from the living room: "_Star Wars_ or _Lilo and Stitch_?"

"_Star Wars_," Cooper and Charlotte yell back in unison. Charlotte sets the water on the stove, and Cooper grabs the ice cream from the freezer. Charlotte takes a bowl down from the cabinet and begins assembling a sundae while Cooper gets a spoon and eats from the edges of the carton. Cooper can tell that Charlotte is deep in thought because she isn't even scolding him for eating out of the container.

Cooper brushes the hair back from his wife's face so that he can see her properly. "Penny for your thoughts?" he says.

Charlotte gives a little shrug. She isn't sure she can put everything she's feeling into words right now. It's overwhelming and wonderful. Luckily Cooper seems to understand that. He puts an arm around his wife, pulling her into his side. Charlotte wraps an arm around Cooper and stands on her tiptoes to give him a kiss.

They linger in the kitchen for a few minutes, just to be together, to feel these incredible, powerful feelings together. Eventually the bowl of ice cream starts to melt a bit, and Charlotte picks it up. "Come on," she tells Cooper, taking his hand. "_Our_ son is waiting." She's pretty sure she'll never get tired of saying that.


	4. Chapter 4

Charlotte has instituted momma-son homework time this year. She's been making certain to leave her office by five everyday, and that means taking some administrative work home with her. Luckily, she usually ends up having just about as much work as Mason does, so they sit themselves down at the table and do their homework together every evening while Cooper makes dinner.

Cooper is definitely ok with the arrangement. Charlotte can manage in the kitchen if she must, but he's the cook in the family. Charlotte tends to be relegated to the role of sous chef when she ventures into the kitchen. And Cooper has to begrudgingly admit that Charlotte is far better than he is at explaining forth grade math to their son. So she gets homework and he gets dinner.

"Momma?"

"Hmm?" Charlotte looks up at Mason over her laptop.

"Can you help me study for my science test?"

"Sure," Charlotte tells him, closing her computer and taking the sheet of paper that Mason hands her. "Your test is just on the parts of the cell?"

"Just?" Mason asks incredulously. "There are too many parts. I can never keep them straight."

"Should we run through them once before I quiz you?"

"Well right now, I only know the nucleus and the mitochondria, so yeah."

"Ok, scoot over here," Charlotte tells Mason. He moves next to her so that they can look at the cartoon image of the cell together. "Did your teacher tell you that the cell was like a factory?" Charlotte asks.

"Yeah, but that's stupid," Mason tells her, looking annoyed.

"Actually, a lot of what cells do is manufacture proteins. So it's a pretty good metaphor." Mason raises his eyebrow disbelievingly. "Promise."

Cooper can't keep the smile off his face as he watches Charlotte explain the parts of the cell to their son. If you'd have told him that him six years ago that he would marry Charlotte King, that they would have a kid, and that she would spend her evenings doing forth grade science homework with their son and cuddling with Cooper on the couch while watching _Toy Story,_ he would would never have believed it. He probably would have said that was the craziest thing he'd ever heard; that he was more likely to marry one of the prostitutes that had occupied most of his evenings back then.

"Do you remember what the lysosomes do?" Cooper overhears Charlotte ask.

Mason's response is a long drawn out "uhhhh."

"Remember 'lysosome' sounds like 'lysol,'" Charlotte prompts.

"They're the janitors. They get rid of the bad stuff in the cell."

"12 for 12. Good job. Why don't you get washed up. It looks like your daddy's almost done with dinner. I'll quiz you again after we eat," Charlotte tells Mason, handing him his books to take up to his room.

Charlotte gets up from the table and walks over to Cooper. He's standing at the stove watching over a pot of boiling pasta. Charlotte wraps one arm around her husband's waist and picks up the stirring spoon in the other. She takes a taste of the sauce. "Mmmm. This is delicious tonight."

"I think you're just hungry. Did you take even take a lunch break?" Cooper asks. Most afternoons they get lunch together, but Cooper had needed to schedule a last minute appointment for a patient with the stomach flu today.

"I went over to our lawyer's office to pick up the adoption paperwork," Charlotte tells Cooper, conveniently sidestepping the fact that she had forgotten to eat lunch.

"Everything look ok?" Cooper asks. They had told the lawyer they would check it over tonight so that he could file with the court tomorrow.

"Mmhmm. There are a couple of thing we need to sign off on," Charlotte says. Cooper watches as she gets a far away look in her eyes. Charlotte notices her husband scrutinizing her. "I might have gotten a little teary eyed reading it over," Charlotte admits.

Cooper knows that people still think that Charlotte is closed off about her feelings, but the truth that he's discovered is that once you break through that wall of hers, she's incredibly open and honest. Of the two of them, Cooper is the one more likely to brood and keep his feelings to himself after a hard day. It had been a wonderful development when Charlotte had finally started coming home when she had been the one to have a hard day and snuggling up against Cooper's chest and confiding in him what she was feeling.

Sure, it had taken them a few years to get here, but now, their relationship feels so easy, so solid. The thing Cooper feels most sure about is that come hell or high water his marriage will be the thing he can cling to. Charlotte is his certainty in life. He's glad that she has become Mason's too.

Cooper wraps both of his arms loosely around his wife, so that he's looking at her while he talks. "I think you're allowed to be a little emotional about this, Char. You're going to be officially Mason's mother. That's huge."

Charlotte feels like she's has been more than a little emotional. She's been a mess of feelings with this whole thing. She'd actually teared up today just reading her name next to the sentence on the form: _I am the adopting parent, and I agree that the child will be adopted and treated as my legal child with the same rights as a natural child of mine. _It's formal, and maybe most people would find the legal documents cold and impersonal. But Charlotte has spent most of her career surrounded by legal paperwork, and she likes the officialness of all this.

"I know," Charlotte replies, as a grin spreads itself across her face. Cooper smiles too; his wife's happiness is infectious. Charlotte gives Cooper a kiss before taking three plates down from the cabinet to set the table for dinner.

It's an ordinary evening - homework, dinner, and probably a continuation of last night's game of _Risk_ - but there isn't a thing in the world Cooper would rather be doing.


	5. Chapter 5

Charlotte and Cooper had braced themselves for the holidays - Mason's first without Erica. But they had made it to the end of December without so much as a tear; Christmas and Chanukah had been nothing short of wonderful. Charlotte had loved decorating her first tree since she was a little girl with her son. Charlotte and Cooper had kept a box of Christmas decorations when they'd cleaned out Erica's apartment, and so Mason was able to proudly hang the ornament with a picture of himself as a baby sitting on Santa's lap. Charlotte and Cooper had made certain to keep Mason's old traditions while incorporating new ones. Mason had loved learning about his momma's traditions: gold painted pine cones on the tree and home cooked honey buns on Christmas morning. Mason had enjoyed lighting the Menorah with his daddy again, and Cooper had gained a new favorite memory of Charlotte and Mason mispronouncing Hebrew prayers. He loved bringing his family into his traditions and watching them embrace latkes and dradles. All in all it had been a great holiday season.

It's a few days after Christmas, and Charlotte and Cooper have begun to let their guards down and think that maybe they've made it through what could have been a very difficult time. Charlotte is woken up by a knocking at her bedroom door. She lifts herself off of Cooper, on top of whom she is completely sprawled, and scrambles to find her pajamas. "Here I come Mase," Charlotte calls out, as she pulls on an inside-out t-shirt. Charlotte reaches over and gives her husband a shove. Cooper groans, rolls over, and keeps sleeping. "Coop, you need to get up."

"Why?" Cooper whines, still half asleep.

"Cause Mason's outside, and it would be nice if he didn't see you in your birthday suit," Charlotte says, grinning at Cooper and tossing his clothes at him.

Once Cooper is decent, Charlotte opens the door to find a teary eyed Mason looking up at her. "Hey, honey."

"Can I come hang out in your room for a little while?" Mason asks, his voice soft and sad.

" 'Course," Charlotte tells Mason, who climbs into his parents bed.

"What's wrong?" Cooper asks as Mason sits down next to him. Mason shrugs, and Cooper wraps his arm around his son.

Charlotte gets back into bed, pulling the covers over her legs to guard against the winter chill. Charlotte puts a hand on Mason's back, rubbing it softly, not pushing him to talk just yet. She's learned his moods, learned when he seems like he will tell her what's wrong if she just gives him a little time. Charlotte's the family insomniac, which means that when Mason wakes up in the middle of the night, she's usually the one who helps him get back to bed. Half the time Charlotte is awake and Mason finds her sitting in the living room reading. The rest of the time he knocks at his parents' door, and she's the one who wakes up, while his daddy keeps on sleeping.

"I miss my mom," Mason says simply. "I can't fall asleep." The grief hits him most acutely at night, when he's alone in bed and his mind has time to wander. Sometimes he and Charlotte will talk about Erica, but most of the time Mason needs a distraction, needs his momma to tell him a story and soothe him to sleep.

"I bet the holidays were hard without her," Cooper says to his son, who just shrugs again. "It's natural to be sad and to miss her." Mason's giving him nothing, and Cooper isn't sure exactly what to say.

"What did your mom do when you couldn't sleep?" Cooper asks. He wants to give Mason continuity, wants to honor his relationship with Erica.

"Momma reads to me and gives me a cuddle. That helps me fall asleep," Mason says, looking over at Charlotte, who smiles warmly back at her son. It hits Cooper then that Charlotte is the person who soothes Mason when he can't sleep. Erica had told Cooper that Mason had slept like a rock since he was a few months old. It's only since Erica's death that Mason has had trouble sleeping, that he's needed someone to help him get to bed. Charlotte's been that person for Mason. Charlotte's the person in Mason's life that he expects to cuddles him when he can't sleep, to make him feel safe when he's scared after a bad dream.

Charlotte gives Mason's side a little squeeze, and Mason scoots over to lean against his momma. "Do you want me to read you a chapter of _Harry Potter_?"

"Mmhmm," Mason tells her, curling himself in a ball against Charlotte's side.

Charlotte hugs Mason tightly, pressing a kiss to his hair before reaching over a grabbing the book from her nightstand.

"Were you reading _Harry Potter_ without me?" Mason asks.

"I might have read ahead a little," Charlotte admits.

"I told you the books were awesome!" Mason says.

"I told her first," Cooper adds. He had read the series when it had first come out and all of his patients had been toting around hardcover editions on the day each book was published.

"Yeah, yeah," Charlotte says with a roll of her eyes. Her husband and son are possibly the only two people in the world who like being right even more than she does. "Why don't you read to us," Charlotte tells Cooper, passing the book over to him, wanting to include him in the middle of the night routine.

"Did you leave off on chapter nineteen Mase, or is that just where Momma read ahead to?"

"No," Charlotte tells her husband, a hint of exasperation in her voice. "That's where Mason and I left off."

Cooper chuckles at Charlotte, and props himself up on his elbow so that he can face her and Mason. "Ok then. Chapter 19: _The Lion and the Serpent_," he begins reading.

Charlotte holds Mason tightly against her and rubs his back, trying to soothe him to sleep, while her husband's voice lulls her to a state of semi-consciousness. As she drifts between waking and dreams, Charlotte thinks about the same thing Cooper had moments before. Cooper had asked Mason what his mom did to help him sleep, and he had answered by telling Cooper what _his momma_ does. Charlotte realizes that she's stopped thinking of herself as standing in for Erica, has stopped wondering what she can possibly do to be a good enough replacement for the mother that Mason lost. She's Mason's mother, not his replacement mother, but _his mother_ just as much as Erica is.

Charlotte's heart aches for Erica, who will never get to make new memories with Mason, never get to hold him again. Despite the rocky start that Charlotte and Erica had gotten off to, the two women had come to consider each other family. Charlotte takes a breath, tries to put her sadness to rest for the night. She looks at Cooper and Mason, and focuses on how very, very grateful she is for each new memory she gets to make with them.


	6. Chapter 6

_Despite having stolen earthquake preparedness and Mason's friend Amber from the season premier, this story is going to remain in a world in which Charlotte isn't pregnant._

* * *

"One case of water isn't enough if an earthquake destroys our apartment and we have no power or running water," Mason tells Charlotte as she gets ready to push their cart away from the water section of the supermarket.

"If our apartment is destroyed and the water is in our apartment how is that going to help?" Charlotte asks.

"You know what I mean," Mason tells his momma with a roll of his eyes. "Mrs. Jacobs said it's very important to be prepared. You don't want to be responsible for us not surviving an earthquake do you?"

Charlotte chuckles at her son. "Go grab another case," she tells him, nodding in the direction of the waters.

Mason puts another case of water in the shopping cart and pulls out his checklist. "Ok, we have water, batteries, canned food."

"Anything else we need?" Charlotte asks Mason as she pushes the cart towards the produce section.

"Nope we're all set?

"Then do you think we can get some food for dinner, just in case the apocalypse doesn't happen before tonight?" Charlotte runs her hand through Mason's hair as they walk over to the vegetable section.

"Can we make pasta with mozzarella and tomato?" Mason asks. It's the third time this week he's requested his new favorite dinner.

"Sure," Charlotte tells her son. She's glad that she's finally managed to learn to cook enough that she has Mason making requests. "Go grab some grape tomatoes and a bunch of basil."

Mason tosses the items in the cart a minute later. "Is Dad going to be home for dinner?"

"Nope. It's just you and me tonight, but we should cook extra so your daddy will have something to eat when he gets home." Cooper's been at the hospital with a sick patient for the past few evenings.

A short blonde girl walks up next to the cart. "Hi Mason," she says.

"Hey Amber," Mason says, and Charlotte notices that his cheeks redden considerably.

Amber looks at Charlotte with a smile. "Is this your mom?" Amber asks Mason.

Charlotte has always been careful to call herself Mason's _momma_ and never his _mom_. That title is reserved for Erica. Charlotte isn't sure how Mason will answer, and just as she's about to jump in and introduce herself as _Charlotte_ to save Mason the possibly uncomfortable explanation, Mason answers himself.

"Yep," Mason tells his friend simply.

"Hi. I'm Amber."

"Charlotte. It's nice to meet you."

"You too," Amber says. "I've got to go. My mom's on the check out line. We should have a play-date soon."

"Yea," Mason says his cheeks getting even redder. "That sounds good."

"Ok. Well, I'll see you tomorrow," Amber says running off towards the cashiers.

Charlotte grins at her son. "She seems nice."

"I guess," Mason says, trying to be nonchalant.

"Don't try to play it cool, Mister. I saw you blushin'," Charlotte says, bumping her shoulder against Mason's teasingly.

"Was not," Mason protest.

"Uh huh," Charlotte says sarcastically, before adding, "You should invite her over for that play-date next week."

* * *

Mason and Charlotte plunk the groceries down on the kitchen table. "I'm starving!" Mason exclaims.

"Let's get cooking. We can bring the apocalypse supplies to the basement after we eat." Charlotte fills a pot with water and puts it on the stove. "You want to cut the tomatoes for me?"

"Sure," Mason says, grabbing a knife for the silverware drawer. He sets to work on the tomatoes while Charlotte chops the basil.

"Momma?"

"Hmm?" Charlotte says, looking up from the basil. Mason's frowning a little.

"Do you mind that I told Amber that you're my mom?"

"Of course not." Charlotte hadn't realized that Mason was worrying about this. "You're my son, babe. No matter what you call me."

Mason smiles at Charlotte. "Ok. Good. I mean I still want to call you _momma_. But you know, we don't live in the South, so no one really calls their mother _momma_ here."

Charlotte chuckles. She walks over to stand next to Mason and wrap her arm around him. She squeezes him against her side and kisses his hair. "I love you, Momma." Mason tells Charlotte, sounding very serious.

"I love you too," Charlotte says.

Mason's quiet for a minute before asking, "What should I wear when we see the judge next week?" They have their meeting to finalize the adoption coming up and Mason keeps slipping it into conversation. He's excited. Really excited.

"Anything you want. I'm going to dress up," Charlotte tells him. "It's a special occasion."

"Me too," Mason tells her with a smile. He likes hearing his momma tell him how special it is that she gets to adopt him, and Charlotte is happy to keep telling him. He's a special little boy, and she feels so damn lucky to be his momma.

* * *

_A/N: I'm planning on writing one more chapter, which I will aim to make longer than this one._

_There's a plot bunny hopping around in my head, and I would love to know if this is something you would be interested in reading:_

_Basic premise: Mason gets sick, causing Cooper to search for his birth family. The story would explore how Charlotte and Cooper deal with their son's illness, as well as Cooper's journey of finding his birth family (and Charlotte's support for him on this path). I'm most interested in using Mason's illness as a way to explore the strength and love of the King-Freedman-Warner family. Format-wise, I am intrigued by the idea of doing one chapter per month, so that the story can more through the whole journey that the family takes._

_Let me know if that is something that you'd be interested in reading. Suggestions are welcome! And of course, reviews always make me happy._


	7. Chapter 7

The sun is well above the horizon when Charlotte wakes up, a fact that is incredibly disorienting on a Thursday morning. Usually her alarm goes off as the first light of dawn is entering the sky, but today everyone's sleeping in. They have their final hearing with the judge at noon to sign the adoption papers. Charlotte stretches groggily and sees that her husband is already awake and watching her. She smiles at him and rolls over so that she's resting on his chest.

Cooper looks at Charlotte - she's grinning. "Someone woke up in a good mood."

Charlotte shrugs it off, "I got eight hours of sleep. Can't remember the last time that happened on a week day."

Cooper raises an eyebrow and gives his wife a knowing smile. "Quit giving me that look," Charlotte tells her husband.

"What?" Cooper asks, doing his best to feign ignorance. Charlotte chuckles. That fake innocent, caught with his hand in the cookie jar look that Cooper gets should be infuriating. But Charlotte is a sucker for her husband and his goofy expressions.

Charlotte lays her head back on Coopers chest, content to lie silently with him and savor the lazy morning. Cooper's chest rumbles under Charlotte as he tells her, "Do you know how grateful I am that you are adopting Mason, that you love him so much?"

Charlotte smiles, and suddenly she's fighting back tears. She presses her lips together, and when she speaks Cooper can hear the emotion in her voice. "I didn't think I wanted any of this. You. Kids." Charlotte smiles tearfully, gives a little shrug of her shoulder. She can't believe how wrong she had been. She's had a whole life envisioned for herself, and it most certainly didn't include this day in it. And Charlotte is so very grateful that she was wrong.

"Oh I know," Cooper says with a laugh. He leans down and presses a kiss to his wife's forehead. God knows the both of them complicated the hell out of things for a few years there. Cooper squeezes Charlotte tightly.

"What time is it?" Charlotte asks, as her eyes drift closed again.

"Nine," Cooper tells her.

"What?! Coop, why did you let me sleep so late?"

"We have three hours. It can't take you that long to get ready." Charlotte is already getting out of bed. "Noooo, come back," Cooper whines.

"I've gotta get in the shower. It's late," Charlotte tells her husband, disappearing into the bathroom. She pokes her head out of the bathroom a minute later. "You could join me, you know," Charlotte says, a hint of impatience in her voice.

"I thought you were in a rush to get ready," Cooper teases. Charlotte just rolls her eyes as Cooper gets out of bed to join her for a shower.

* * *

When Charlotte and Cooper emerge from their bedroom they find Mason already awake and watching TV. He's wearing a button down shirt and a pair of dress pants. "Well don't you look nice," Charlotte comments, sitting down next to Mason on the couch.

Mason smiles. "I need help tying my tie," he tells her.

"Your daddy can help you with that before we leave. No need to put it on yet," Charlotte tells him. She takes a minute to stare at her son while he's looking at the television. He's such a good kid. She got lucky with him, that's for sure. "You eat breakfast yet?"

"Yea, like an hour ago. You guys slept late." Charlotte blushes a little; an hour ago she and Cooper were definitely not sleeping.

Cooper walks into the living room with two cups of coffee in hand. He hands one to Charlotte and sits down next to Mason. "Are you excited Mase?" Cooper asks.

Mason smiles and nods vigorously, before looking sheepishly at his momma, a little embarrassed by just how excited he is. Charlotte wraps her arm around Mason. "I am so excited, Mase," she tells her son, pulling him against her chest. She wraps her other arm around him and holds him to her. "I love being your momma, sweetie. And don't you forget that." Mason smiles contentedly.

"I love that you're my momma," Mason tells Charlotte a moment later. Charlotte presses a kiss to her son's hair. She smiles around a lump in her throat.

"Well that is good to hear because you are stuck with me, mister," Charlotte teases. Mason smiles and laughs, and Charlotte couldn't be happier. She's been so worried that today would be bitter sweet, that Mason would be thinking about his mom all day. Charlotte was concerned that celebrating today would upset Mason, because it would feel too much like happiness coming from Erica's death. But Mason has never seemed to see it that way, and for that Charlotte is very thankful.

* * *

They're standing in front of a judge, and even though the process has taken months, this day still feels unexpected and surreal to Cooper. The judge has just asked if Cooper consents to the adoption, and he can't imagine wanting anything more than to share his son with the woman standing beside him. She's turned into a mother, and Cooper got to watch it happen.

"Now Dr. King, I have a few questions for you." Charlotte nods her head. "You have filed a petition with the court asking to adopt your husband's child, Mason Warner. This means that you will have all the legal rights and responsibilities as if he were naturally born to you, and that he will have the right to inherit from you as if he were your natural child. Do you agree to this?"

"I do your honor."

"Can you tell me why you want to adopt Mason."

"I love Mason very much, and I have been blessed to have him in my life for the last year and a half," Charlotte smiles at Mason and puts her arm around him. "In that time I have come to think of Mason as my son. Mason's already my child, and today we would very much like to make that official." Mason's a little teary, touched by what his momma said. Charlotte gives Mason's arm a little squeeze. Cooper just watches them, still stunned by how happy these two make him.

"And most importantly," the judge says, "Mason, do you mind if I ask you some questions?"

"No."

"Mason, do you know what it means to be adopted?" the judge asks.

"Yes."

"And what does that mean to you?"

"It means that my momma will be my momma forever."

The judge smiles at Mason. "And do you want that?"

"Yes."

"And can you tell me why that is?"

"Because Charlotte is a really good momma. She takes good care of me, and I love her a lot. So I want her to always be my momma."

"In that case," the judge says, "it is my pleasure to grant your request for adoption, and to confer onto you the legal status of parent and child. Congratulations."

Mason wraps his arms around Charlotte, and she returns the hug as Cooper reaches over to place a kiss on her cheek. In the background Charlotte can hear clapping and the judge beginning to talk again, but all she can focus on is her son.

* * *

_The End_


End file.
